When Jinyoung opened his eyes he could instantly tell he was dreaming. It wasn’t like the others, super realistic; it was like walking through a mist of static or watching a show on a television with bad reception. His skin tingled and he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Not from fear, just the uneasy feeling of being somewhere… wrong.

            He tapped his feet against the asphalt, the bare pads of his feet scraping against it. The pavement was cold even though it was a bright, warm day. Jinyoung walked down the street slowly, he was in one of the neighborhoods near the school. He continued walking down the street flicking his eyes left and right at the passing houses.

The street was oddly empty, no cars or bikes littering the street, just endless asphalt with cherry picked houses dotting the sides. Jinyoung cringed as the cold concrete bit at his feet. He knew it wasn’t real but it was similar to falling in a dream and you wake up dizzy. Even though you know it’s not real you can’t shake that subconscious feeling.

Far down the road he spied something sticking out of the middle of the street. It was a sapling that had protruded through the street and as he approached the tree erupted, sending asphalt flying. The tree shot up into the air, growing rapidly in fast forward. Separate branches converged as they rose higher eventually splitting off again into smaller twigs. The trunk grew steadily, expanding, leaves and flower buds popping from the bark. Once it had stopped growing, about thirty seconds from start to finish, the buds flowered all at once leaving Jinyoung standing in front of a giant cherry blossom tree.

He stared up at the tree side stepping around it, wary of it randomly growing again. On the sidewalk in front of one of the houses someone had made some crude drawings with chalk. A child he assumed. There was a large, abnormally shaped cat with lopsided ears and a blue fire truck. Jinyoung chuckled and walked a little further. The last drawing was a few flowers with white petals; he bent down and the chalk petal. He pulled his lips tight and stood up staring intently at the dust on the tips of his fingers. The drawings had steered him up to one of the houses, unconsciously he reached out and opened the front door

Jinyoung wandered around the house, everything was set out like the family just got up and left suddenly. Breakfast was on the table, a bouquet of lilies drowning in the sink, the still running water overflowing from the crystal vase, and the television playing quietly in the background. It was like a scene out of a zombie movie. Muttering into the silence he stuck his head into one of the bedrooms and nearly fell onto the floor. The room was white; soft white carpeting, flowing lace drapes, and crisp white sheets on the bed.

Stumbling Jinyoung reached the bed and collapsed; behind the headboard was a mural of an iris nearly the size of the wall, curving out to touch the rest of the room. He reached his hand out tracing the pattern in the air the deep purple and blue mixed together gracefully with the fluidity of watercolor. The three large petals blended into the wall with small ripples like a pool of disrupted water. There were no words to describe the style and simplistic beauty boarding on lyrical abstraction that sent a surge of emotion through him.

He fell onto the bed heart pounding with the feeling of an unending itch he couldn’t scratch. Jinyoung pulled his hand back and touched his face; his cheeks were wet. He blinked, but no tears flowed from his eyes. Confused he furrowed his brow and squeezed his eyes shut.

Darkness. He sighed.

~

“Jinyoung,” a voice sobbed, echoing, “please?”

Jinyoung’s eyes snapped open, even thought there was no distinct definition in the white ceiling he could tell his sight was blurry. He blinked and turned his head to one side, there was a long table with four vases of flowers each with different stages of wilting.

            Jinyoung groggily to his other side. A boy was laying with his head on his hands at the edge of the bed. His head was raised slightly and his almost eyes wide as saucers.

            “J-Jinyoung!” He leapt up and grabbed Jinyoung’s hand, “are you alright? Are you ok? Are you really awake?”

            The boy rambled on, “I was so worried. When you didn’t come home I thought the worst, and of course it happened… I just can’t believe you managed to get hit by a car.” He was on the verge of tears at this point, “I thought the worst for sure. It had already been ten days…”

            Jinyoung stared at him blankly, this beautiful boy so concerned about him. His hair and clothes were messy, like he’d been sleeping in that chair for days, but he was still unbearably cute.

            “Do- do you remember me?” The boy’s face dropped.

            Jinyoung’s lips curled into a smile, he reached out and caressed the boy’s cheek, “Gongchan.”

            Gongchan’s face melted into a trembling smile before he crumbled onto Jinyoung’s chest bawling uncontrollably, “I thought you were going to die! I was so worried.”

            He sat up abruptly and hit Jinyoung square in the chest, “you need to be more careful! Don’t you dare do that to me again!”

            Jinyoung rubbed the spot on his chest and smiled, he felt it, the pain and the presence. Smile still stuck on his face Jinyoung grasped Gongchan’s hand and gently his fingers. Tangible. Real. He lifted Gongchan’s hand and kissed each fingertip. He turned his gaze back to the table beside his hospital bed and the vases. Jinyoung’s eyes drifted from one vase to the next.

A sprig from a cherry blossom tree.

Lilies.

Irises.

And a bouquet of daises.

            Jinyoung shut his eyes still holding tightly onto Gongchan’s hand.

If this is a dream, I don’t ever want to wake up.